Petition drive aims to save Lunenburg vs. St. Bernard's football game

LUNENBURG — A former Lunenburg football coach has started a petition drive that seeks to get Lunenburg High School's forfeited Thanksgiving Day football game reinstated.

"I was so angry — this is so unfair to a lot of those kids," said Matthew R. Roderick, who set up the petition "Loxi Jo Calmes: Let Them Play!" on change.org Monday night. "I grew up here and mentored a lot of those kids. The whole team shouldn't be punished with no facts. I was disgusted that innocent kids were being punished and the majority did not do anything."

School Superintendent Loxi Jo Calmes announced Monday that the remainder of the school's football season was being forfeited in the wake of racial graffiti discovered late last week spray-painted on the house of a Lunenburg player who alleges wrongdoing by teammates.

The graffiti incident, which is being investigated by the FBI, the district attorney's office and state and local police, follows incidents earlier this month in which Lunenburg players allegedly used racial slurs against South High Commnity School athletes at the end of a football game in Worcester.

Anthony J. Phillips, father of 13-year-old football player Isaac A. Phillips who was the target of a racist hate crime, said he is frustrated that some people are turning on his family after Ms. Calmes canceled the rest of the school's football season — including the popular Thanksgiving game Nov. 27 against St. Bernard's High School in Fitchburg.

Mr. Phillips, who owns a construction company and volunteers as coach for flag football, said he was listening to a call-in segment on the radio station WAAF-FM 107.3 about the incident when one of the callers said the Phillips were causing all the problems. He said he also heard from others in town that his family was to blame for canceling the Thanksgiving game.

"We did nothing wrong — it has been turned around like we did something wrong and we're the victims," Mr. Phillips said. "We didn't want any of this stuff. I couldn't sleep last night because I felt awful. Everything happened so fast. We only expected a little bit of local attention after it happened. We're not vicious parents out to ruin the town. I'm hoping in the next few days someone steps forward."

He said his family was saddened the Thanksgiving game was called off, but hopes it leads to outing whoever was responsible for the graffiti.

In the weeks prior to the incident, Mr. Phillips said he talked to Isaac's coaches about his son's jerseys being stolen and his cleats filled with water and thrown in the trash. Then, when he told the coaches Isaac's back bicycle tire was slashed, coaches allegedly responded, "I doubt a football player did it," Mr. Phillips said.

Then, on the foundation of the Phillips' family home on Chase Road, the phrase "Knights don't need n------!" was spray-painted in blue letters after dark one evening last week.

Isaac's father is black and his mother is white. Lunenburg teams are nicknamed the Blue Knights.

Mr. Phillips said if it is a senior playing on the team who did the graffiti and the game is still played, it sets a bad example.

"If he plays that game and it never comes out and he is not held accountable and goes off to college, an extreme bigot is released into society," he said.

Mr. Roderick, 23, said he started the petition at the urging of his girlfriend. He played football for Lunenburg High for three years and coached for four.

The Thanksgiving game is a lasting memory for many high school football players, especially seniors, he said.

"This is going to leave a sour taste for them on how the football season ended for the rest of their lives and it's not fair," he said. "That game is something to look forward to, win or lose."

When asked how he felt about alleged racist comments made by several Lunenburg football players at games against players at Worcester's South High, he said some sort of disciplinary action should have been taken.

"I'm not saying it is not football players," he said. "But you have to go based on what you know. You can't assume things. If a varsity player did it (the graffiti) or had a hint of knowing about it, the game should be canceled, but until we know for a fact, it is not fair. We can't definitely say it is a football player."

He said he knows Lunenburg's football coaches and he doesn't believe they would tolerate any type of bullying.

Some Lunenburg players and their families are also crying foul over having the season canceled.

Daniel P. Gonzalez, 16-year-old Lunenburg football player Danny L. Gonzalez's father, said his son is discouraged.

"No one is proven guilty and there is no association with the football team other than the 'Blue Knights' spray-painted on the Phillips' house," he said. "Anyone could have written that. It could have been anybody. The person who is found guilty should get what is coming to them, but punishing the whole team doesn't feel appropriate."

He said he believes the school department is just looking for an organization to blame following extensive media attention.

"After the games in Worcester, why was there not earlier interventions to prevent something like this?" he said. "We haven't had a problem with any other teams in the past — only Worcester."

Lunenburg football player Troy W. LaFlamme, 17, is also very disappointed, according to his mother, Amy M. LaFlamme.

She said Troy quit his job at a landscaping company to play football his senior year.

"We're all disappointed," she said. "This is a memory he wanted — to play in the Thanksgiving game, but we feel very badly for the family and it is tragic that happened. It is disheartening someone would do something like that."

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